Ghost
by SachiNyoko
Summary: AU. A sudden disappearance has one Sasuke Uchiha questioning how much he knows about the last two years of his life. As the search unfolds, he finds himself more deeply involved than he ever thought possible. Naruto x SM
1. Chapter 1

The beams of dawn danced in lines across stiff white sheets, twisted in knots around the gently stirring form. A shrill cry from the digital alarm clock resounded through the room, ended abruptly by a heavy thump on the reset button. Two legs swung over the edge of the bed, feet touching lightly against the dingy blue carpet.

Routine steps brought the young man from the bedroom across the short span to the living room. He flipped the television on to the morning news and poured a glass of orange juice, downing it as he watched the weather report. Rinsing out his glass, he walked to the bathroom and squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush.

As he brushed his teeth, the solemn voice of the news anchor drifted from the other room of the small, single tenant apartment.

"—has been missing now for three days. The chief detective on the case said in a press conference this morning that they're working now to determine the last person to see the young woman before she disappeared. Anyone who has any tips as to the whereabouts of Usagi Tsukino should call the tip line on the screen." The handle of his plastic toothbrush clattered noisily against the white porcelain of the sink. Sasuke stared at his reflection in disbelief for a few seconds before he retraced his steps to the tiny living space of his one bedroom apartment.

The picture of the blonde smiled out at him from the small television screen, the aforementioned phone number printed across the bottom in scarlet red digits. It only lasted for a moment before the anchor reappeared and moved on to the next story. Sasuke reached for the remote and switched it off, his mind reeling. He replayed Friday afternoon in his head, Usagi laughing as she got into her small silver Honda and drove away. Before he could move forward through time, a knock at the door brought him crashing down to the present, loud and strong.

He glanced down at his attire of boxers and a t-shirt. Retreating to the bedroom, he threw a pair of jeans on as fast as he could and returned to the door just as the knock sounded again. He opened it to a middle-aged man in a suit, readjusting his dark blue tie as he pegged him with a frigid, brown eyed gaze.

"Sasuke Uchiha?" The dark haired male nodded, but didn't move to invite the man in. He kept his expression neutral as he waited for him to go on. "I'd like to take you in for some questions."

**xXx**

"I didn't wake you, did I?" The question was fired off with a pointed look at his disheveled head of hair, but Sasuke just shrugged.

"I'm late for work." Was the reply he chose as he glared at the cup of coffee on the table his right hand was wrapped around, quickly losing its warmth. He knew that the detective was trying to get under his skin, to get some sort of rise out of him, and as much as he hated to admit it, it was starting to work.

"I'm sorry about that. Just bear with me a little while longer." The detective was named Kenji Hanako, a strangely feminine contradiction to his tough exterior and fierce stare. He reached for the manila envelope that had been perched on the edge of table for the duration of the interview, previously untouched. "You've told me that you were unaware of the fact Usagi Tsukino was missing until the news broadcast you saw this morning. The last contact you had was Friday evening when you both left work."

Sasuke had already reiterated these two things so many times that he didn't bother responding. His dark eyes followed Kenji's hands as they withdrew the papers from the envelope and placed them on the desk. "That's all well and good, but this is what has me confused. According to the phone records we received from Usagi Tsukino's cell phone company, the final call she made was to your phone number, a call that lasted the duration of 47 seconds."

Sasuke froze in his seat, suddenly remembering. He probably would've recalled on his own when standing in the living room of his apartment had the detective not interrupted his concentration. Early Saturday morning, around two if he remembered the brief glance at his alarm clock correctly, his phone had gone off. When he saw Usagi's name on the screen, he'd bristled and answered, intending to be angry.

"I thought I heard her say my name, but it was muffled at best so I couldn't be sure. There were some shuffling noises and static-y sounds for a bit. I tried to say something to her but she didn't respond. Then the line went dead and I went back to sleep." He finished recounting the memory in full to the detective and frowned in the face of Kenji's disbelieving expression.

"So you got a strange call from a friend in the dead of night and thought nothing of it. You went right back to sleep."

"You don't know Usagi. She has a habit of calling out of the blue, blurting something ridiculous, and hanging up without even waiting for a response." he shrugged as he continued, "I just figured she'd been partying and decided to call for no reason."

"So you found Usagi annoying?" Sasuke really did bristle at that question, and shifted his glare from the neutral coffee cup to the man sitting across from him, the undercurrent of smugness in his face glaringly obvious.

He took a deep breath before responding, "Yes, at times Usagi was annoying, but I didn't kidnap her, or kill her, or whatever you think I did."

"I don't think you did anything, did I say that?" Kenji collected the papers and placed them back in the envelope without showing them to Sasuke. "I'm only trying to establish who was the last person to see Usagi Tsukino, who as far as we know is still alive. Unless you have some reason to believe she's been murdered?"

"Are we done here?" Sasuke set his jaw and didn't react to the obvious prod.

"You're free to go, Uchiha. We'll be in touch." Without a word, the fuming Sasuke rose and left.

**xXx**

Falling into the chair of his cubicle, Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed, ignoring the papers piled neatly across his desk. He should be working on the article he was due to submit before the next issue went to print, tomorrow. Sure, he was mostly done; all that was left was a comb through of the material and the type up of the final draft. Right now he was too frustrated by the number of people who had stopped him on the way here to drown him in sympathy.

"Hey, sorry man," Sasuke was jolted by the sudden hand that clapped him on the shoulder, and turned to glare at the blonde man behind him. Naruto Uzumaki raised his eyebrows at the apparent hostility, his look of concern briefly wavering. Sasuke just grunted noncommittally and turned back around to shuffle through the documents in his work space. "I just saw the news about Usagi this morning."

"What does that have to do with me?" Swiveling in his chair once more, the dark haired male observed Naruto's reactions closely. He'd been puzzling over everyone's sudden concern over him all morning and was hoping that Naruto could elaborate. Confusion clouded his blue eyes and his face drew into a frown as he studied Sasuke's expression, realizing that he was completely sincere.

"Well, I mean...you two weren't together?" Sasuke's eyebrows shot upward, inadvertently, before he could suppress his shock. Naruto went on before he could say anything, "I just assumed you know, since you guys were together all the time. You go to lunch together every day, and leave at the same time. You don't even hang out with _me_ that much and I'm your best friend." He twisted the last bit into the prod of a joke, flashing one of his signature grins, but Sasuke's mind was elsewhere.

Was that really true? His dark eyes travelled to the cubicle wall on his right, the one that separated his cubicle from Usagi's. He knew without looking that her desk was a whirlwind of chaos, papers scattered everywhere, the polar opposite of his.

In the two years he had worked at this magazine, he'd grown used to the blonde girl's constant chattering, the background noise of her radio that she sometimes sang along with, loudly and off-key. One day she had invited herself along to grab lunch with him, at a café across the street that he visited every day like clockwork, and had accompanied him every time after that. Near the end of their work day she usually gave up on working and hovered around his cubicle asking questions until he grew exasperated and decided to leave for the day.

Somewhere in that time she had managed to acquire his phone number. He pulled out his cell phone and opened their conversation history. The pattern was easy to see: she sent long, rambling texts about something he usually had no interest in and he responded, usually in one word. He leaned back in his chair, frowning, wondering why the past two years of his life suddenly felt like a dream he was just waking up from.

"Uzumaki, what are you doing here?" Sasuke glanced up as his boss and editor joined the two of them, his one visible eye looking over at the blonde man. He remembered being somewhat unnerved by the fact that Kakashi Hatake had kept most of his face covered all the time when he'd first started working there, but now he was used to it.

"Just checking up on Sasuke, ignoring my deadline," Naruto offered another grin before he retreated. He worked for the newspaper that also operated out of their office building and was frequently responsible for the front page stories, though he had a bad habit of turning in his work with minutes to spare. Kakashi turned back to Sasuke and eyed the papers on his desk.

"You aren't finished yet?"

"Something came up this morning." When he felt himself being observed by the man's frustratingly penetrating gaze, Sasuke frowned and swiveled back to his work, powering on his laptop. "Give me an hour."

"Not what I meant. The press has been calling all morning wanting details about Usagi. Since she hadn't turned in her advice column for the week, I want you to cover it. Write a short bio piece to go over her column including the tip line information." Sasuke froze in his seat, and then turned to look at his boss in disbelief. Kakashi looked unaffected as he held up the object in his hand, one that Sasuke had just noticed. It appeared to be a gift basket full of chocolates and stuffed rabbits. "This arrived for Usagi this morning from one of her readers. Her mother is distraught has refused to speak with the press thus far. This is your peace offering."

Kakashi placed the basket on Sasuke's desk and hovered for just a moment, hesitating. He truly would have been shocked had the older man decided to offer him some sort of compassion as well, but the moment passed and Kakashi shrugged before moving away.

"Why me?" Sasuke couldn't stop the question as it bubbled up in his throat. "Sakura was her friend, shouldn't she do this instead?" He was referring to their pink haired coworker who occasionally stopped by Usagi's cubicle to gossip. Whether they hung out elsewhere or not, he couldn't say. They always seemed to have a weirdly tense relationship to his observances.

Kakashi paused in his steps but didn't bother to look at him again. "Do you really have to ask?"

**xXx**

Scowling, Sasuke circled the block again trying to find a place to park his car amid the swarm of press and news vans. Twenty minutes later he gave up and parked three blocks down. He released his seat belt and sat, idle in the driver's seat, steadying his nerves. Obviously as soon as he approached the Tsukino house the press outside would go into frenzy. He wasn't even sure if Usagi's mother would let him in, and if she did, he was sure to be bombarded on his way out.

Eyeing the basket perched innocently in his passenger seat, he finally steeled himself and grabbed it, exiting the vehicle. The walk from his car to the walkway that led to the Tsukino door seemed to occur in an odd hyper speed, but when the moment came that the first reporter noticed his approach, it grinded to a painfully slow crawl. Setting his jaw with determination, he strode passed the somewhat dumbstruck group without as much as a glance, his expression hard. By the time they regained their senses, he'd made the turn to head up to the door. None of them dared to follow him.

Sasuke knocked briskly on the door and waited. No part of him was keen on the idea of having to turn around and face a crowd of reporters, but as the seconds of silence dragged on, his nerves began to fray.

"Go away," The voice that echoed from the other side of the door was gruff and obviously male, and it surprised Sasuke. He knew that Usagi's father had passed away some time ago from an unexpected heart failure caused by a defect that none of his checkups had ever caught. They didn't even know he'd had it until the autopsy report.

"I'm a friend of Usagi's." The words felt strange leaving his lips. He wasn't really sure if he considered himself that much, but he had a job to do. Part of it he attributed to the discontent he felt at knowing such an intimate detail about the blonde girl's life. "I have something for her mother."

He heard shuffling behind the door, and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the click of the lock. The door swung inward, revealing a boy as tall as he was with sandy blonde hair and a glower across his features. Behind that, Sasuke could detect the traces of exhaustion in the dark circles under his eyes and the slight slump of his shoulders.

As he observed the dark haired man across the threshold, his harsh expression slowly faded into one of recognition. The boy appeared to be in his late teens, and Sasuke knew he must be Usagi's younger brother, though he should have been on the other side of the country attending college. Again Sasuke felt that surreal feeling that he knew far too much about Usagi.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke raised his eyebrows and the boy shrugged at the unspoken question. "Odango never shuts up about you." While the older man processed that, Shingo moved aside and tilted his head, an invitation for him to come in. Sasuke did so, glancing around at the neat and well-kept home, suddenly more nervous than before. "Don't tell me you made that."

Turning, he realized Shingo was looking over the gift basket in his hand. "No, it came for Usagi this morning. It's from a reader." He followed Shingo back toward the kitchen and declined when he offered him something to drink. "I'll be honest, I came hoping to talk to your mother. The magazine wants to run a short biography on Usagi with the tip line information. I wanted to ask her a few questions."

"I don't think she's up to it." Shingo sighed, looking degrees more tired than he had when he first opened the door. "She's pretty messed up. It hasn't been that long since dad died, and now this." He turned his brown eyes to Sasuke, looking earnest, making him feel all new levels of uncomfortable. "You don't know where she could be? The way she always talked about you I thought you two must be close."

"I wish I could say. I never saw her outside of work." Shingo nodded, sighing with his disappointment. It made Sasuke feel a tad bit guilty, but he brushed it off.

"I'll go ask mom if she'll talk to you." The boy grabbed the gift basket and left the room. Sasuke heard his footsteps as he ascended the stairs to the second floor. Now that he was alone, Sasuke found the silence in the house somewhat unnerving. He was almost expecting to be able to hear the conversation going on upstairs, but the walls and floors provided too much of a muffler.

He felt the buzz of anticipation when the footsteps coming down the stairs some moments later were doubled. Shingo appeared at the entrance, his face scrunched with concern as he hovered beside the petite woman next to him. She had a shock of dark blue hair that was pulled back from her face, more oval shaped than Usagi's heart-shaped face, and a set of kind brown eyes that were set directly on him. Sasuke could detect little in common between her and her blonde daughter aside from their petite frames.

"Sasuke Uchiha, it's good to finally meet you. Usagi told me so much about you; it's nice to have a face to go with the name. I'm Ikuko Tsukino."

"It's nice to meet you too." Sasuke was suddenly nervous, unsure of what to say to the woman across from him, smiling softly with eyes that were tinged pink and slightly swollen from crying. Ikuko turned and gestured for him to follow her into the living room. He did so, sinking into the blue couch and glancing around. Pictures covered much of the walls and table space in a timeline of Shingo and Usagi's childhoods; he found the sight somewhat overwhelming, or perhaps it was the whole situation.

"Usagi called everyday even though she only lived across town. Whenever she mentioned work she talked about you. She said you were a very good journalist." Sasuke turned back to the woman, surprised yet again. This feeling had come over him too many times today, when he was used to being immovable in most every situation.

Reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket, he removed his small notepad and pencil. He preferred old fashioned note taking to recordings. He knew the more times he recopied and reiterated his notes, the more polished and fine the details would become in his finished product. Gently, still plagued by some vague feeling of guilt that he was taking advantage, he implored Ikuko, "Tell me more about Usagi."

**xXx**

Sasuke stood on the tiny balcony that extended from his one bedroom apartment, watching the sky gradually getting dimmer. The space was barely large enough for the single chair that occupied it and his own legroom, and as he looked out across the smog-filled city skyline, he recalled the ad in the classifieds that had claimed a 'panoramic view.' All he could see was the jagged rise of skyscrapers and a few dirty alleyways. Not that any of that stuff mattered to him.

_No, that's more Usagi's thing, I guess_. He thought it before he could catch himself. The steam rising from the cup in his hand suddenly reminded him of the coffee he was holding, and he took a sip, thinking. His dark eyes found the notebook that was resting in the chair, the nearly completed article about the spirited blonde who worked in the cubicle beside him. But was she more than that?

Everyone else certainly thought as much. Sasuke had to admit to himself that the past two of his twenty five years seemed to have been lived on some sort of autopilot on his part. As he scanned the broad scope of memories from that time, he could seldom pick out one that didn't involve Usagi Tsukino. Setting his mug on the rail, he withdrew his hand slowly to make sure it retained its balance before picking up his notebook and settling into the chair.

Sasuke leafed through the pages of notes and polished paragraphs that would make it to the final piece as is, marveling at how quickly he'd finished all of it, how easily the smaller details came to him as he wrote. Perhaps there had been a legitimate reason behind Kakashi choosing him to cover the story.

The memory popped up suddenly in his conscious mind, a byproduct of concentrating on the recent past, and he smiled ever so slightly. The blonde in the cubicle next to him, sniffling over the letters that had came in that day. He saw himself leaning around the cubicle wall to tease her for being too emotional. She had scrunched up her face in a ridiculous mimicry of his stoic expression and asked, '_Should I look more like this?_' They had both laughed.

Sasuke returned to the present, his notebook slipping from his slack fingers. He quickly stomped his foot down on it before it could slide under the rail and tumble off of the balcony, but he couldn't shake the sudden unrest that came over him. He'd grown accustomed to her, being there all the time, always chattering, making faces, following him to lunch and being overemotional in nearly every situation. He felt suddenly pained at the thought that he might never see her again.

Abruptly standing, he snatched up his coffee cup before it too tried to take a death plunge from the balcony rail and collected his notebook. He needed to finish the article and push the blonde girl away from his thoughts. When he handed the finished product to Kakashi in the morning, he could return to some sort of normalcy.

Little did he know, the whole situation was about to get much more complicated.

**xXx**

I know. Don't say it. I have no business doing this. My time is stretched thin between work and homework. Microbiology is really kicking my ass. I should be working on two assignments that are due in three hours, but somehow I couldn't stop typing.

This revised version of this story is much better than its original, and I'm quite happy with it. Since Storm, several people have asked that I do another story with Sasuke/Usagi. While I am working on developing Storm into a full story, the project is a bit more overwhelming than I have time for right now, so you get this instead.

Whether I make time to continue this really depends on interest. I have enough to easily make the next chapter, but from there it's pretty open. So if you want more, review. (:


	2. Chapter 2

When Sasuke arrived at work the following morning, he made a beeline for Kakashi's office and tossed his completed article on the desk. The pale haired man glanced up at him before shifting his attention to the papers. When Sasuke turned to leave, he held up his hand for him to wait while he scanned the text. The dark haired man frowned but obliged. Before he reached the end, another man walked into the office, his black hair shaped in a perfect bowl cut.

"The editorials are done!" He deposited his own work on the desk and turned to leave, spotting Sasuke standing near the door waiting. "Hello Sasuke."

The man known as Rock Lee left without another word, Sasuke watching after him, slightly perplexed. How many people did he pass in the halls every day that knew him by name? People he worked with all the time, who may even considered him a friend. _Where have I been the last two years of my life? _He kept his obsidian eyes on the door, while the rebellious voice in the back of his mind answered, _with Usagi, apparently_.

"That is what normal people do, Sasuke. They tell each other hello." Sasuke turned back to the amused Kakashi with a glare, but the man didn't appear phased by it in the least. "Good work on the article." Sasuke nodded and moved to leave, when Kakashi threw out the unexpected comment, "I hope they find her."

He shut the door behind him without responding, thrown off kilter as he made his way back toward his cubicle. Pushing his thoughts to his work, he mentally sorted through the articles he was thinking of researching for the next week. He was content to let the blonde woman shift to the back of his mind, if not disappear completely.

He would not be so fortunate.

**xXx**

_Darkness was the first thing that registered, suffocating blackness pressing in from all sides. Or perhaps he was really suffocating; every breath was a struggle, until he was literally hyperventilating. There were noises echoing around him, his hands were bound, he struggled endlessly, kicking his legs out to meet with the close end of his confined space._

_A sudden burst of light flooded his vision, blinded him, and made him useless in the struggle that followed, unable to gain his bearings. Staring upward as the lighted world came into focus, the man with the mask takes up the whole frame, his eyes narrowed and crazed._

_The first stab of pain comes._

Sasuke shot ramrod straight in his twin bed, the aged frame squeaking loudly in protest. Drenched in sweat, he rubbed a thumb and forefinger in his eyes, replaying the last bit of his vivid nightmare over in his head. When he raised his head and opened his eyes, he saw Usagi Tsukino staring back at him from the end of the bed.

He actually screamed. He couldn't remember a time past his childhood where he verbally shouted in fear, but he did now as he scrambled off the bed and made a beeline for the bathroom. The sheets landed in a tangled heap at his feet, he almost tripped over them in his haste. The door slammed shut and Sasuke slid to the floor, hyperventilating.

_That did not just happen. I imagined it. I was still half asleep. _It took several moments to calm his nerves. He dragged himself to his feet again and bent over the sink to splash cold water on his face. The terry cloth of the towel scratched against his skin, and he stared at his reflection, hesitating. Resolved, he reached for the door knob.

Usagi was still perched at the foot of the bed, her hands folded in her lap, blue eyes wide and sad. She looked as confused as he felt, but she was there, fully tangible. Suddenly she smiled, softly, and said, "Hello Ke-kun."

If he'd had any doubts it was her, Sasuke knew that she was the only one who ever called him 'Ke-kun.' She'd started on it soon after she'd learned that the Spanish word for 'what' was 'que.' Anytime she wanted to avoid a question, or just annoy him, she would chant on "Que, Ke-kun?"

"I'm sorry about the dream."

"Usagi, what are you doing here? Where have you been?" He couldn't decide if he sounded angry or just frenzied from the shock of the moment. Usagi was subdued, contradictive to every piece of her personality and it was unnerving him even more. "How did you even get in here?"

"Sasuke." She stood and crossed the small distance from his bed to the doorway. It was still dark in the bedroom, but his eyes had adjusted. He could see her pale hand as she reached up and brushed her fingers against the skin just above his elbow. The chill cut through him, making him visibly shiver, and he saw the flash of the masked face from his dream. "I'm dead."

Sasuke didn't respond to this as the warmth returned to him the moment the blonde pulled her hand away. He focused his obsidian eyes on the shorter woman's face, waiting for her to burst out laughing, to tell him this was all an elaborate joke and she wasn't standing there trying to make him believe something utterly impossible. The silence stretched on, the reality of the situation seeping through his psyche.

Usagi followed him when he retreated to the kitchen. At the moment, he wished he had some hard liquor on hand, but he settled for coffee, eyeing the blonde as he set up the brewer. She looked solid, even under the fluorescent lighting of the kitchen, with her ridiculously long pigtails of golden blonde hair and dark, sapphire blue eyes. As he observed her, he realized she was wearing the same outfit that he had last seen her in, the Friday she disappeared.

Sasuke kept expecting to wake up. The longer he stood in his tiny kitchen listening to the coffeemaker spew out store brand black coffee, smelling the familiar aroma as it permeated the air, the more he began to realize that he was fully awake. "How do you know you're dead?"

"You're the only person who has been able to see me so far. When I-" She hesitated, folding her arms around herself subconsciously, "When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything. I was confused, just walking around. When I tried to ask for help, no one paid attention to me. So then I tried to go home, to my mom's, then to Rei's, but no one could see me or hear me. It finally started to sink in that I might really be dead. The more I accept it, the more it's started to come back."

"What has?" He eyed her as he leaned against the counter, the sounds of the brewer obnoxiously loud and bouncing merrily off the walls around them. Her blue eyes were staring at the tabletop, out of focus and distant.

"How I died. It's still just a blur. What you saw when I touched you, that's the most of what I remember." Usagi broke off into silence, and Sasuke took the moment to prepare his cup of coffee. For a split second, he was about to offer the blonde a cup as well but he caught himself. The surrealism of the situation washed over him again as he slid into a chair at the two-seater table that took up one cramped corner of his kitchen.

"Why me? Why am I the only one who can see you?" The question came spilling out of him, and he looked up at Usagi again, but she abruptly dropped her gaze and twisted her fingers together. She had that habit when she was nervous. Another random thing he knew about the blonde now sitting across from him, claiming she was dead.

"I don't know. Maybe you're supposed to help me somehow. People become ghosts because they have unfinished business, right?" She met his eyes once more, looking a bit hopeful. He leaned into the back of his chair and considered this, but appeared skeptical.

"Until ten minutes ago I never believed in ghosts."

"Well maybe I have to find my body before I can move on, or the person who killed me. Will you help me, Sasuke? As my friend?" She said it so casually, with her eyes pleading with him across the table to say yes. Sasuke thought about the past week since she'd gone missing, the sympathetic looks and inquiries he received at work, the sudden random memories that cropped up when he walked past her cubicle, how he seemed to know every stupid quirk she had, like the way she was beginning to form a pout because he wasn't answering her question fast enough and she was getting impatient.

"Are we friends?" Her face went blank at the question, and then she raised her eyebrows at him. For a while, she didn't respond, studying him with her blue eyes like he had done only moments before, though he wasn't sure if it was for payback or if she was really trying to figure out the question. Finally, she smiled, from cheek to cheek like he was used to seeing.

"Sasuke, you are one of my closest friends. We work together every day, go to lunch together, you walk me to my car, and on some occasions I have been known to convince you to leave the house on the weekends. Last year I threw you a surprise birthday party at the office and you pretended to be mad at me for about a month afterwards even though I know you had fun. And you were mad at Naruto because he dropped the cake on the floor and ruined it."

"Okay, I get it." Usagi obliged him by becoming quiet once more, though she still looked oddly amused. Sasuke absorbed this information again, recalling the impromptu birthday party that she spoke of. He'd been upset and wondered how she had even figured out his birth date, because he'd refused to tell her, but despite himself he did have some fun. "Why does it feel like I'm just realizing it?"

The humor drained from her face. Her clear azure eyes clouded over with sadness while she looked him over again, gauging the sincerity of the question. "I don't know if I can answer that for you, Sasuke." She hesitated, still twisting her fingers in her lap, so much more serious than he remembered her being. No, the only time he could remember her being somber was around the time that her father passed away. "Why are you asking me this?"

"I feel like I have amnesia, almost. The last two years are blurry at best." He wanted to continue, to explain the confusion he'd been feeling since the moment that he'd watched the broadcast about her disappearance, but something so painful filled the blonde's expression that he couldn't say anything else. For a long while they were silent, sitting across from each other at his tiny table in his tiny apartment.

"I started working at the magazine about 18 months ago. When I met you, I think you said all of two words to me. My first few weeks there I think I just watched you. No one ever came around to see you except Naruto, occasionally. You never spoke with anyone and when I asked about you, people either dodged questions or said you were just antisocial."

She paused and looked up at him, "You seemed so lonely. I resolved to make friends with you. Well, maybe resolved isn't the right word. I became a bit obsessed. You were so intimidating at first, but gradually I made progress. We were friends, sort of." Hesitating again, she glanced from his face to her hands several times, but he was listening with rapt attention, piecing his memories together, recalling those early days when Usagi had first come into his life and he had wished nothing more than for her to quickly exit.

"I guess I always knew there was a certain distance there. Sometimes I would speak and it would be just like those times when we hardly knew each other. I felt like no matter how I tried, I just couldn't reach you." Usagi finally became quiet, her eyes trained on her lap, a still pained expression contorting her usual cheerful features.

Sasuke leaned back in his chair, replaying her words, filling in the gaps with his own memories of the events in question. Meeting the bubbly journalist who was moving into the cubicle beside him, he could recall now the two words he had spoken, 'Hello' and 'no', the latter when she'd asked him if he wanted to grab lunch together and get to know each other, since they would be working side-by-side. That usually deterred the people he met from seeking any sort of relationship with him.

But Usagi had been persistent. At first she kept her distance well enough, content to mingle with their other co-workers and leave him be. Then she started to ask questions. Pointless stuff at first, work-related nonsense, proof-reading of a paragraph, borrowing paper clips, the usual drabble. Yet the more she came around, the more he became used to her, and the less resistance he put up to her endless advances at being sociable. She was there every time he turned around, it seemed, even after several occasions where he'd been downright rude.

Somewhere in that muddled mess, he'd become somewhat attached to her. So maybe they were friends. Naruto had employed similar tactics when they attended school together. The fact that they now worked in such close proximity was coincidence, but he still credited the blonde man as a friend, perhaps his best friend as Naruto had termed it so recently.

He looked across the table at her, or the ghost of her with a gloomy expression, and felt some emotion stirring in him. Was it guilt, or regret, or sadness? He wasn't particularly familiar with any of these. He didn't know.

"I'm sorry, Usagi." Usagi looked up, her eyes widening, completely surprised. "I'll help you. As a friend."

She smiled, her face brightening like the afternoon sun, eyes as clear blue and sparkling as the distant ocean. A familiar smile, and it brought him some sense of peace over the strange turmoil he'd been experiencing since the morning of that broadcast, when he'd heard she'd gone missing.

"Thank you, Sasuke."

**xXx**

I know you want to hit me. My only excuse is that Pharmacology is kicking my butt. I don't get a summer vacation with the school I'm at, I just finished mid-terms. I spent six hours today studying cardiovascular medications and this was a nice stress buster for me. I hope you enjoyed it. (:

I'm wondering if anyone predicted the story to go in this direction. Ha ha, I don't exactly know how long this will end up being, but I'd like to aim for less than ten chapters. Of course I say that for most stories. Ah well. Review?


	3. Chapter 3

Usagi sat silently at the small foldout table in Sasuke's kitchen. It was still the early hours of the morning. He had retreated to bed shortly after their conversation, needing sleep for the coming workday. She hadn't slept since she came to several days earlier. Maybe that was why it felt like months has already passed.

The apartment was incredibly small, not what she had expected. She knew that Sasuke made good money, but looking around she couldn't figure what he spent it on. Certainly not the rent for this one bedroom, one bath apartment, its only wall dividing the bedroom from everything else. The kitchen was also the dining room, with its border marked by the transition from tile to the carpet of the living area and entrance.

Everything was meticulously tidy. The walls were depressingly bare and off-white, the kitchen counters home to only the coffeepot and a microwave. The refrigerator bore no magnets or sticky notes, the colors of the furniture were mute and neutral. It was as if he had only moved in the day before.

Her sapphire eyes were fixed on the doorway that led into Sasuke's bedroom. He had left the door ajar and practically fallen into the bed. He'd stayed tense for some time and she tried to imagine what he could be thinking, but such things had eluded her at the best of times when she was alive. Given the circumstances, she couldn't even begin to guess. Eventually his breathing had slowed, his muscles relaxed, and she knew he was asleep.

Usagi could never have predicted this, not in a million years. It had been a slow, painful process coming to terms with the state she was in: a ghost wandering among the living only able to observe, unable to be seen or heard. She thought for sure that Rei would be able to sense her somehow; the priestess had always believed in spirits.

A whim had brought her here, to Sasuke's apartment. She wanted to see him. She'd only just gotten used to the ability to walk through solid objects, to let herself in to anywhere she wanted to go. When he opened his eyes and saw her, for a moment she could feel again.

She studied him now as the sun crept across the floor, knowing that he would be waking soon, getting ready to head to the office. His dark hair was mussed, falling over his face. As she sat there, listening to the silence that had replaced her heartbeat, the only thing she could feel was a hollow quiver of emotion that echoed through her very soul. If she were capable of crying, she would. She had refrained from saying the one thing she had come here to say, with the comfort of knowing he couldn't hear her, could never respond in such a way to tear her in two. When she whispered to him in the dark, however, he had come to life, had opened his eyes and seen her.

In a way, this was worse. She placed her hand flat against the table and held it there as she thought. She was dead. There was no warmth anymore. When she put her hand back in her lap, she could see the outline of her handprint on the table, a testament to the cold that filled her.

In so many words, Sasuke had confirmed what she had known all along. She was nothing to him. He was a solitary presence that had been so far out of her reach all this time. What progress she may have thought she made was just a poor attempt at lying to herself. He was so puzzled when he said it. _I feel like I have amnesia_.

Usagi gave a start when the shrill cry of the alarm clock suddenly cut through her thoughts. In the other room Sasuke began to stir. She turned her eyes back to the table where her handprint had long disappeared. It could be that easy, a voice in her mind kept nagging at her. She could leave, disappear from Sasuke's life, never bother him again. She doubted he would even miss her.

But he was the only person who could see her. Could she really go on existing in a world where no one knew she was there, watching other people live their lives? And maybe it was the childish side of her that she still couldn't let go of, but she wanted to believe that there was some reason that Sasuke was that one person.

"Are you coming with me to the office?" Usagi glanced up at the fully dressed Sasuke standing in the doorway of the bedroom, his hair damp from the shower. She marveled at the way time seemed to ebb and flow around her; it felt like she had turned away from the bedroom only seconds before. He padded across the living space to flip the television on, the station already on the news. A toothbrush was hanging from the left side of his mouth, and he continued brushing while he made a fresh pot of coffee with the other hand.

Usagi didn't respond to the question. She hadn't expected it. Instead she watched Sasuke spit his toothpaste in the kitchen sink, something only a guy who lived alone would do, and rinse while he kept his gaze on the news anchor. He went through his morning routine as if she wasn't even in the room, but she couldn't tell if he was consciously or unconsciously avoiding her.

He took the seat across from her finally with his coffee in hand, piercing her with an inquisitive gaze until she remembered that she still hadn't answered his question. But he spoke again, "I'm just going to drop off an article for next week's issue. We should figure out a plan of some sorts first, right?"

"A plan?" Usagi echoed Sasuke's words, her brow furrowed, feeling uncertain under his undivided attention. He sipped at his coffee distractedly, blowing on it in an attempt to cool it down, and nodded at her question.

"You said we should try to find the guy who did this. We should think of somewhere to start." The words hung between them for some moments. Usagi attempted to process his sudden shift in behavior and willingness to help while he continued to wrestle with the temperature of his coffee, nonchalant.

"My friend Rei, she's a Shinto priestess who owns a shrine here in Tokyo. She may know more about the situation." That was why the blonde had headed there after she went to see her family, after she realized she was dead. If anyone would be able to help her, it would be her best friend. But Rei had been oblivious to her presence. That was when the cold had started to take hold, starting at her extremities and creeping towards the very core of her.

"Sounds good."

"You already wrote your article for next week?" If she hadn't completely lost her grip on time, she knew it was nowhere near their next deadline. For a moment she wondered who had taken the advice column in her absence. Sasuke shook his head.

"It's an old one I never used. I have a few saved just in case whatever I'm working on for the week falls through." Meticulous as always. Usagi smiled a humorless smile while Sasuke dumped the last bit of his coffee in the sink and rinsed out the cup. He turned to her again, meeting her gaze, and she felt the hollow expanse within her growing. "Are you coming?"

"Yes, I'll come."

**xXx**

Sasuke watched the blonde ghost in his passenger seat from the corner of his eye as he drove toward the office. He had not completely digested the surreal situation in which he now found himself, but some part of him had been more relaxed since this morning. Usagi had provided some clarity to the questions that had been plaguing him since her sudden disappearance. More and more he was beginning to recall everything that had happened between them in the time since they met.

Something else was unsettling him now. It was her. She was not the vivacious and somewhat annoying woman he had grown accustomed too. Everything about her was subdued. He didn't know if it was right to expect her to be the same on any level given the circumstances. She was dead; there wasn't much to be cheerful about.

He felt that there was more to it than that. She had only smiled at him when he agreed to help her. This morning she had seemed distracted and conflicted. She only spoke when he asked her a question. Even now her eyes were fixed out the window, distant and unfocused. He was used to her chattering, her attention. Something fundamental had shifted in her personality between the time he had woken up the first time to the time he invited her to the office with him. He wondered if it was something he had said or if it was just his imagination.

Sasuke pulled into the small, shabby parking lot behind their building and took his usual spot on the far end. Usagi was already outside the car when he shut his door, and it struck him again that she didn't have to use the door. She was frozen in place, her sapphire eyes planted on the small silver Honda parked in the opposing row. Her car, he realized with a start. Had it been here yesterday when he came to work? He had not even noticed.

"Usagi?" He moved around his own car to her side, but she still hadn't moved. Her expression was blank as she stared at the car, but she was tensed and unmoving.

"This is where it happened." She finally spoke, closing her eyes. Sasuke glanced around again, but the parking lot was empty of everything but the cars of his fellow employees. He was wondering why the police hadn't come to search the car. Maybe they didn't know it was here. Usagi opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Remember I was staying late to finish my column because I had a last minute submission that I really wanted to include."

"I left without you." Sasuke said it like an admission of guilt, not liking the sudden cold tingling that ran down his spine. He remembered last Friday afternoon like it had just occurred. He'd finished for the day and was surprised to find Usagi hunched over her desk typing at a mile a minute. She was usually never working so diligently within the last half hour of their time there. Frequently she was already bugging him to leave. But she'd said she had some last minute changes and she would be another fifteen minutes. "I didn't want to wait."

Usagi looked suddenly apologetic and reached for him without thinking. He felt the cold creep up his arm as soon as her fingers made contact with his hand. Once she realized this, she pulled her hand back quickly, still looking earnest, "It isn't your fault, Sasuke, that's not what I meant. It may have been worse if you'd been there. What if he'd killed you too?"

She quieted after she said this, frowning. He couldn't follow her train of thought. He could only consider the fact that the one day he hadn't walked with Usagi to her car she had been kidnapped. With nothing else to say to soothe his conscience, she continued with her original line of thought.

"It ended up taking longer than I thought. It was already getting dark when I locked the back door. I remember the streetlights being on and the fact that I couldn't see the keys very well because of the shadows. It took me a minute to find the right one. Then when I turned around," Usagi stopped, her expression becoming distraught.

Sasuke waited, but she didn't say anything else. She just stood there, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips, her eyes never leaving the silver car across from them. He was unsure whether she was still remembering or perplexed because she could remember nothing else. The spell was broken when another silver sedan pulled into the spot beside it, and she was roused from her trance.

"We should go. No one else can see me, remember? You look weird standing here." Sasuke shrugged but obliged, moving towards the building just as the door to the car popped open. Sakura Haruno emerged from the vehicle with her things in tow, already moving towards him as she shut the door to her car with one foot.

"Sasuke!" He braced himself as she matched pace with him, making a conscious effort not to look in Usagi's direction. The blonde slowed her own pace and walked behind them, out of his line of sight, making it easier on him. "Are you alright? I heard about the article Kakashi asked you to write."

"I'm fine." Sasuke said noncommittally as they crossed the lobby to the elevator. He fought the urge to look back at Usagi as they waited on the elevator. He hadn't told her about the article he'd written, or going to see her family two days before.

"I'm surprised you got in to see her family. I tried to call but I could never get through. The block is still packed with news vans. I hope her mom is okay." Sakura gave him an earnest look as they stepped into the elevator. He wasn't entirely sure if she was pressing him for information or not, but he was acutely aware of Usagi's presence in the elevator beside him when the door slid shut. Sakura was oblivious. "Do you know what Kakashi plans to put in place of her column this week?"

"No." Sakura bit her bottom lip, looking like she was still bursting with questions. Sasuke kept his dark eyes fixed on the elevator numbers, wishing they would arrive on their floor so he could lose the pink haired woman. He was already going to have to answer more questions than he wanted about the article from Usagi. His gaze drifted down to the blurry outline of himself and Sakura in the silver elevator doors. Usagi's wasn't there.

They were approaching their stop when Sakura reached out and touched his elbow. Sasuke finally turned to look at her, his expression neutral. "If you want to talk about it, let me know, okay? She was my friend too."

The doors of the elevator finally slid open and Sakura retreated down the hall towards her desk. Sasuke collected himself and did the same. He didn't turn to look at Usagi but he knew she was still following as he took his seat and booted the laptop. He listened to the hum of the hard drive coming to life for a few moments until he was convinced no one else was coming around, and finally turned to look at the blonde.

Usagi was standing at the wall that divided his desk from hers, blue eyes fixed on her own desk, staying silent. He waited while his computer loaded, but she didn't turn back to look at him or ask any questions. She remained subdued, and it continued to unnerve him, even more so now that they were here in the office. This is where he was accustomed to seeing her, to hearing her nonstop chatter, singing, and laughter.

She looked paler than usual under the fluorescent lights. Sasuke finally tore his gaze away and set to work on going through his files. It didn't take long to locate an article that would be suitable for next week. He printed a hard copy and went to collect it from the printer. When he stepped around Usagi, he saw the assortment of flowers and baskets that had taken over her desk. He wondered if it was more stuff from readers or from people around the office.

Usagi trailed him to the copier that printed his work and on to Kakashi's office when he headed that way. The editor's door was ajar so he walked in without knocking. Kakashi looked up anyway and watched Sasuke place the papers on his desk.

"For next week. I'll be out of the office for a while." Kakashi glanced up from the papers but did not move to grab them. He kept his steady gaze on Sasuke, measuring or observing for something, though he couldn't say what it might be.

"How long?"

"Not sure. A week maybe? Call me if you need me." Sasuke turned and left without waiting for a response. He didn't like the probing way his boss was staring at him, or the underlying assumptions behind his gaze. Maybe he was just paranoid, but Kakashi had a knack for reading people and he was in no mood for a psych evaluation.

The doors slid shut on the elevator before he remembered that Usagi was still with him. Her blue eyes were on his face, amused. He bristled, but the change from the somber expression she had worn all morning was welcome, so he didn't say anything as they returned to the car.

"Rei owns the Hikawa Shrine. It's not far from where my mom lives. You know how to get there?" Sasuke nodded as he threw the car into reverse and backed out. He could still feel Usagi's eyes upon him, but he ignored it and focused on the road. "Sakura likes you, you know."

Sasuke gave a start at this sudden statement and turned to look at the blonde, who still held an expression of bemusement as she watched him in return. "I was just wondering if you really were that oblivious. I think I have my answer."

"Everyone has been acting like that since you disappeared. Sakura was your friend, she came to talk to you all the time." He returned his attention to driving, trying to conceal his annoyance at the finality with which she deemed he was clueless.

"She came to see you under the pretense of talking with me. Otherwise you blew her off, remember?" He tried to recall. He never remembered Sakura coming around before Usagi moved into the cubicle beside him, but she had gone to the same school as him and Naruto. He always got the impression she hung around because she was friends with Naruto. Had he been blind to the situation since way back then? "We were friendly with each other, but I wouldn't call us friends. You can park on the left there."

Sasuke pulled his car into the spot she gestured, just off the road. His compact car fit perfectly in the space, but he couldn't see the shrine when he looked around. He got out of the car and followed Usagi's lead down the sidewalk until the pair of them came upon an impressive flight of concrete stairs. The pigtailed woman turned and smiled. "I hope you aren't out of shape."

Her warning went unheeded, but as they began the ascent up the stairs, he realized what she meant. He could barely see the top from where they were and he was already getting winded. It didn't help that his mind was still on the situation with Sakura and how she had acted toward him in the elevator. What Usagi said made sense. Maybe he just wasn't adept at picking up on the signs.

When they finally breached the top of the stairs, he took in the magnificent view that was the Hikawa Shrine. It looked like a painting from a historic era of Japan, with not a trace of the modern era visible. He never knew a place like this still existed, especially so close to the metropolis of Tokyo.

The woman Usagi referred to as Rei Hino came into view, talking to a young man with unkempt brown hair. She fit the image of the place perfectly, her priestess uniform in red and white and her long onyx hair tied back from her face. Her eyes found him across the courtyard, a shocking dark violet, and caught him off guard. For a moment, she appeared puzzled at his presence, but then a spark of recognition flared in her expression. Sasuke was used to being recognized by Usagi's acquaintances by now, so he stood idly, waiting for her to come to him.

Rei turned back to the man beside her and spoke for a few more moments. Sasuke suspected he had been dismissed, for he nodded and retreated back into the shrine. He could see Usagi fidgeting nervously beside him as the dark haired woman drew closer, and wondered for a moment what she was thinking.

"Sasuke Uchiha, right?" He turned back to find that Rei had crossed the distance between them and now stood in front of them, her intense gaze focused on his face. He nodded to her question and again made a conscious effort to ignore Usagi's presence. "What brings you here? I don't believe we've formally met before."

"I'd like to ask you about something." Sasuke felt a certain anxiety overcome him as he said this. It may have been something to do with the intensity surrounding the priestess before him, giving him a skeptical once over, or the fact that he was just now realizing how crazy he was about to sound when he starting quizzing this woman about ghosts.

"Alright. Follow me." Rei turned and headed back toward the shrine, leaving Sasuke to trail behind her. Usagi stayed beside him, sending worried glances between the two of them and frustrating his nerves even further.

"I should've warned you, Rei is about as astute as they come. She's going to know something is up when you ask her. Be as honest as you can." Sasuke glared at Usagi, who looked apologetic. Rei led them into what looked like a sitting room and gestured for him to sit, which he reluctantly did while she took the seat across from him.

"I'm assuming this has something to do with Usagi, given the circumstances." She folded her arms on the table and leaned into them for support as she said this, giving him her undivided attention. Sasuke resisted the urge to fidget in his chair, something he never did, and debated on how to respond to this. He was given temporary reprieve as the man from earlier rejoined them, depositing a tray with tea on the table between them. With a bow, he quickly exited, putting Sasuke on the spot once again.

Rei poured the tea for the both of them and slid the sugar toward him. He declined, but took a sip of the tea out of politeness. It was surprisingly strong, but good, better than he had expected. The longer the moment stretched, the more uncomfortable he felt. Rei finally quirked an eyebrow and decided to speak once more, "Usagi always did tell me you didn't talk much. You said you wanted to ask me something?"

Usagi coughed beside him in a poor attempt to cover up her laughter, and Sasuke felt his lips twitch into a frown. She was amused by her friend's bluntness in the situation, but he was not. "What can you tell me about ghosts?"

"Ghosts?" Rei's eyebrows shot up in a clear expression of surprise, and her mood sobered instantly. He had undoubtedly caught her off guard. "What do you mean by ghosts?"

"I mean spirits of the dead who walk among the living. Something you can see and hear as if they were still alive." Sasuke elaborated, feeling foolish as he said it under the scrutiny of Rei's surreally violet eyes. She didn't appear amused by his explanation, just perplexed, and she studied him for a long moment as though trying to tell whether he was serious or not.

"What you are describing isn't a spirit. A spirit isn't something tangible that can be seen just by looking at it. It's a thought, or a feeling, a presence that lingers in a space because it is tethered there by something or someone." Rei paused to take a sip of her tea, still keeping her eyes on him, waiting for some reaction or explanation for his question. Sasuke didn't offer one, but he must have looked just as perplexed as she had a moment before. This wasn't the answer he had expected in the least, and he wanted to turn to Usagi and ask her what he should do next, but he couldn't.

"A ghost, as you're describing it, is not something I necessarily believe to exist. I've seen spirits who are strong enough to have a form, but it's usually not human. Certainly not like someone who is still alive." She paused again, waiting for him to say something more, or elaborate further, or at least ask another question, but Sasuke was silent. He didn't know what to ask next. Finally, she took the initiative and pressed him for more information, "Why are you asking about this?"

"Research. For an article." It was the first thing that popped into his head. He couldn't bring himself to give the real reason. _Because I'm seeing your best friend and by the way she's sitting right here._ It just made him sound crazy. Rei frowned at him, considering this response, looking all degrees of skeptical.

"You can't be serious." Sasuke didn't respond. Rei pressed her lips together and regarded him with a grim expression. "Usagi always told me you ignored her all the time, but I read the article you wrote over her advice column. You knew her better than she thought. Shingo told me you came to the house to talk to Ikuko. Now you're here talking to me. Something is off about this situation."

"I don't know what you mean." Sasuke did fidget in his seat this time. This whole situation was making him uncomfortable. "I was asked to write that piece on Usagi by our editor."

"Irrelevant to my point," Rei glared at him, but continued, "But fine, I'll play along. You're researching an article. What are you trying to figure out?"

"You're saying that there is no such thing as ghosts."

"That's not what I'm saying. I wouldn't say what you described would never happen. Anything is possible. For the sake of argument, let's say it did happen. What's your next question?"

"Is there a way to help them? Spirits who are stuck here, can you help them move on?" Rei was silent for a while after he asked, her expression blank as she contemplated. The moment seemed to stretch on forever. She leaned back in her chair, frowning, studying him.

"You would have to know the reason they were stuck here. If your spirit talks, that's a step in the right direction, but spirits often don't understand the reason themselves. It takes them time to realize that they are dead. They don't see and feel the world like we do. Often they are frozen in one emotion: sadness, fear, anger. But if you could speak to a spirit, find out why they are here, theoretically you could help them reconcile this emotion and move on."

"Theoretically?"

"I'm not a ghost hunter, Uchiha. There's no priestess how-to guide on dealing with spirits." She was belligerent to his skepticism, when really he was more deflated than anything. Rei had no answers for him, it was becoming obvious. "What's this really about?"

"Maybe you should just tell her, Sasuke." Usagi spoke up for the first time, her voice small and uncertain. Sasuke had a hard time catching himself before he turned in her direction. "She may be able to help if you tell her the circumstances: that I'm dead and I'm stuck here and you're the only one who can see me."

"It's Usagi, isn't it?" Sasuke gave a start and looked up at the dark haired woman seated across the table. Her shrewd violet eyes were misted over with tears, catching him completely off guard yet again. "Just now I felt the sadness. It's all around you; I just didn't notice it before. She's dead, isn't she?"

Sasuke could only nod. Rei swiped at her eyes with shaking hands, trying to regain self-control with little success. He finally gave in and looked in Usagi's direction. She was focused on Rei, her expression a mixture of sorrow and hope. He remained respectfully silent while the woman struggled with her emotions. After a few moments she was able to achieve some level of composure. "So you can see and hear her? She must have told you to come here."

"The only one, it would seem." Rei looked bemused at this, which didn't sit well with him, but he shook it off. Maybe now she would be able to help him.

"I know she probably has no idea as to why she's still here. She probably experienced a great deal of violence before she passed," she paused and drew in a quick breath, trying not to wince as she said it, "which is often the case in situations like this. Does she remember what happened?"

"Just bits and pieces. She remembered more this morning when we were at the office and we saw her car in the parking lot." Rei regarded him with a strange expression as he announced this, but didn't comment.

"So she's been with you how long?"

"Early this morning, since she realized I could see her. She said she went to her mother's house and came here first." Rei frowned again at this, her self-control wavering for a moment. Sasuke imagined she felt some degree of guilt at not being able to see or feel her best friend's presence. She reflected for a few moments, leaving the silence hanging in the air while she thought.

"The only thing I could advise you to do in this case is to try to trigger her memories. Find out what happened to her. Maybe coming to terms with it will help. I know you probably expected more from me. I know she did." Her violet eyes softened, and Sasuke watched as she turned to the spot beside him where Usagi stood. "I'm sorry, Usagi. I love you like my sister. I'm so sorry."

The raven haired woman buried her face in her arms and sobbed, unable to hold her grief in any longer. Sasuke watched Usagi move around the table, her expression one of heartbreak as she placed her hands on her friend's shoulders. "It's okay Rei. I love you, too."

Unable to think of anything else say, Sasuke left the room.

**xXx**

It's been longer than I intended. Just know the last three months have sent me to hell and back, and there hasn't been a moment in a day when I wasn't either at school, at work, or studying. I've been suffering from burnout and writing this out has been a nice relief from nursing school. I tried to make the chapter longer to make up for the absence a bit, but I think I got a bit blurry in what I was trying to convey near the end. Blame it on lack of sleep.

I want to maintain Sasuke as the main character in this story, but there may be times I delve into Usagi's point of view for perspective purposes. I'd like her to have some voice apart from what Sasuke perceives, because his outlook is somewhat skewed as you've no doubt noticed.

Any feedback is encouragement for me and greatly appreciated. (: Thank you for reading.


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